I was at Church today. I had mentioned to a friend that I was going to be voting for Chuck Baldwin of the Constitution Party for President. The person I was talking to, a McCain supporter, told me that “A vote for him is a vote for Barack Obama.” I said, “No it isn’t. A vote for Chuck Baldwin is a vote for Chuck Baldwin.” He then proceeded, much like a few of the comments on this blog, to tell me that anyone who votes for someone like Dr. Baldwin will help Senator Obama get elected, and that we can’t risk that. Of course, I disagreed with him. In fact, it made me think of a quote for Joseph Smith. In regards to the question of whether to vote for the “Whig” candidate or the “Democratic” candidate in the election of 1844, and his unwillingness to vote for either, the Prophet Joseph Smith stated:

“….we shall have the satisfaction of knowing that we have acted conscientiously, and have used our best judgement. And if we have to throw away our votes, we had better do so upon a worthy rather than an unworthy individual who might make use of the weapon we put in his hand to destroy us.”

People like Chuck Baldwin did not murder the Prophet. People like you did. People who did not respect the religious freedoms of others. Chuck Baldwin does not agree with Latter-day Saints on all aspects of our doctrine. We don’t agree with him on all aspects of his doctrine either. But you know what? “I claim the privilege of worshiping Almighty God according to the dictates of my own conscience, and allow all men (even men like Chuck Baldwin) the same privilege, let them worship how, where, or what they may.”

Chuck Baldwin is in no way a rabid anti-mormon. He respects our right to worship as we choose. He even reccommended a book by Ezra Taft Benson in his list of most important literature to read to learn about proper government and freedom. No anti-mormon would ever do that. Now, about McCain- you might want to see how he feels about mormons- It’s just a little scary…